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which card,got a few in mind

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Sorry for the mega long post.

ive read probably every review and test comparison for the 8800gtx and x1950xtx and some say the ati is better but the last one i read said one gtx out performs the xtx in cf by a few frame rates

i already have a x1950xtx and making 60fps in call of duty 4, i am considering getting another being the crossfire edition. which would work out cheaper as only one card to buy

but i really cant ignore the fact the 8800gtx is being rated higher then 2 xtx's

then the next question is does the 8800gtx run faster sli over the xtx's crossfire??? i cant find any comparisons online

so im really bloody confused

also i dont really have the cash for today's cards so kinda 3/4 years behind card and price wise! as much as id love a hd 5830 and a i7 set up, i just dont have the cash to spend like that for occasional gaming,

also i dont care if i have to buy 2 gtx's as i can simply sell the xtx on

or been looking at the gtx 260's which has 260 cores to the 8800's 160

my specs currently are a acer motherboard, nrp 500 watt psu with a 1.6 ghz c2d e2140. and 1gig mem and a x1950xtx

ive just brought a asus p5n-t, which i will use my nrp psu, im also bidding on some geil pc2-8500 ddr2 8gb kit which is 2 x 2gb twice
im also looking at a 2.6 c2d cpu but i read the e2140 clocks very well and found some figures suggesting on stock voltages at 1500mhz - 3ghz
ill also be geting a decent cpu cooler and if i run the gtx's or any ill be using a decent gpu cooler too.

so specs now are
acer m1610 f4-0r board
e2140 cpu
2 x 667 512mb ddr2
stock cpu cooler
160gb hdd
x1950xtx
nrp 500watt psu

specs which new cards will go to will go on to

asus p5n-t
500w nrp psu
e2140 ( or possibly a 2.6ghz one(suggestions good of oc)
8gb geil ddr2 1066 ddr2 or maybe 4gb depending on card prices
2 or possibly 3 cards in sli ??
and a decent cpu cooler



the reason im not going for big ££ stuff is i use the pc daily for the internet, but enjoy lfs or cod4 now and again, don't get me wrong the x1950xtx handles it ok but cant really play grid, so haven't even bothered buying mw2 which i really want to play on the pc as i have it on the ps3, as said id love to go with a nice hd card loads of gb of ram a i7 core etc but i cant justify the costs for my needs! and the fact im 25 with a child and a house to run plus a juicy bmw!



many thanks for help in advance
 
Soldato
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I'd say for a start don't get 8GB ram - you simply dont need that much, even in a current high-end spec system. Plus with only 2 ram sticks you will probably get a better overclock on the CPU. Put the saved cash towards a better gfx card. Try and squeeze the budget to a 5770 (which aint much more anyway). You'll save in the long run on just the leccy bill alone ;)
 
Soldato
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To tell you the truth...after looking at your PC's current spec, I think instead of 'upgrade', you'd probably be better off keep your gaming on your PS3, and keep saving up more cash and built a new PC from ground up later in the future...
 
Soldato
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I'd say for a start don't get 8GB ram - you simply dont need that much, even in a current high-end spec system. Plus with only 2 ram sticks you will probably get a better overclock on the CPU. Put the saved cash towards a better gfx card. Try and squeeze the budget to a 5770 (which aint much more anyway). You'll save in the long run on just the leccy bill alone ;)

Yea you should stick with 4GB ram and try get the 5770 and a decent cooler and oc your cpu.
 
Soldato
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Um that's kinda what he's doing if you read. Just on the cheap:)
I know, but my point is if he have to change everything (especially even the motherboard), he's better off save up around £400 first, and to go either AM3 or 1156 platform instead on going Core2...it is actually better value to build a i3 530/i5 750 system than a Core2DuoE8000/Core2QuadQ9000 system.

If the price is too high, a cheap decent AMD budget gaming build would probably meets his requirement better...may be something like such as a Athlon II X2 or X4.
 
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.....amd no thanks, im a intel man always have been!!

yer been looking at thr 5770, not a bad idea, and going with 2x2gb is good with me,

as for thr mobo i got it for £46 a asus p5nt deluxe with 3 pci-e slots.

im happy to run this set up im talking about now and give it a year and then swap this one over to my 2nd pc.

the 2nd reason i dont want all the best latest stuff is i cant justify the cost for what i need, my prev set up was a 2.8 p4, 2g ram, and a 7900gt

so is the 3ghz on stock voltages with the e2140 right?,

for a cooler thinking of a scythe ninja Copper cooler any good? read its like a kilo!!!
http://www.scythe-usa.com/product/cpu/033/scnjcu1000_detail.html
using a Coolink SWiF2-120 120mm 800 RPM fan

also to note it wouldn't be brought all at once im lucky if i have 60-70 pounds spare a month

on thr 5770 is this the one you mean
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Sapphire-RADE...raphics_Video_TV_Cards_TW?hash=item563b6f48ca
i thought the 128 bit Memory Data Width wasnt very good
 
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Soldato
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Sorry, didn't realise you already got the asus p5nt deluxe motherboard.

It seems like you are fond of the 5770, however to make full capability of it, you would need a better CPU than the e2140. I would suggest you grab a E5300 at around £50:
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CP-273-IN&groupid=701&catid=6&subcat=793

The CPU is know to be capable of overclocking up to 4.0GHz...but since the motherboard is a nforce chipset board (which is well-known as poor for overclocking), you would may be only able to overclock it to 3.6~3.8GHz...and that is if you are lucky.

As for memory, if you are using 32-bit Window XP, you can get away with just using 2GB of DDR2 1066 rams. If you are using Window Vista or 64-bit OS, then you would definitely need 4GB.

Sidenote: The extra PCI-E slots won't do you any good if you do go ATI instead of Nvidia, as the motherboard support SLI not Xfire.
 
Soldato
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You will need more than 1gb of system ram to get the best results. 2gb is the minimum and 4gb is recommended. You wont need any more than that.

As for a gpu go for a 2nd hand 4850/4870 or a new 5770 for a bit more. You wont be able to run a 8800gtx in sli on that psu.
You can also overclock your cpu a bit to give you better performance and remove the bottles neck in your system once you add a new card. :)
 
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yer sorry didnt add this part in i have vista 32. but have win 7 32 waiting.

yer thats what i read with that board so maybe go nvidea, tbh my old 7900gt was preety good compared to a equal spec saphire radeon

i atturly regret moving from Nvidia to ati twice, i thought i was getting a better deal when i cashed in my 8600gtx and got the x1950xtx, thinking the gddr4 would have given it some edge, but didnt, in the case of sli, what Nvidia cards are there currently as good as the 5770, as you recommended
 
Soldato
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You are running Window Vista on 1GB memory!?

I think before you do ANYTHING else, change to your new motherboard and upgrade your memory to 2GB-4GB DDR2 1066 RAM first.

Window Vista alone would most likely suck your entire 1GB of RAM dry, let alone any spare for your games.

Also, xfire and SLI won't give you any extra performance if your CPU is not feeding your graphic cards data/work fast enough.

You should forget about SLI/xfire for now and just focous on getting a single card that meets your requirement. You could get a 2nd hand HD4870 1GB for around £70, or you want to cut cost even more, you could possible get a 2nd hand 4850 512MB for around £45-£50.

With the graphic card sorted, you just need to upgrade your CPU next when you got cash to spare.

And if you really getting 4GB of RAM, you should upgrade to Win7-64bit instead of 32-bit. I'm using Win7-64bit, and I never use more than 2.5GB of RAM (and that's gaming plus Firefox with like 15 tabs in the background).
 
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i see were your coming from! well i get 60fps on cod 4, ok i may get the memory first and see what happens never know the extra memory may give me what i need to just play comfortably for now, if you want me to run 3d mark 06 and tell you the scores im more then happy too

then i may just start saving for a decent quad core and graphics card, as regards to win 7, ive already opened it, so i know i wont be able to return it!
 
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Just for the ops information, the P5N-T was just about the worst pos board that Asus have ever produced.

.. really? i went though many board reviews and they all said the p5nt was very good, i know theres better ones but is this a good stand point to start? it just seems ive made the wrong decision on all of what im doing!
 
Soldato
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.. really?!

Yes really, a few people on these forums have had nightmares with them, along with my mate who couldn't get it stable even at stock, let alone trying to overclock it.

See this thread here, the op got so frustrated that in the end the board had a little accident ;)

P1010056.JPG
 
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i read about un stable cpus and other problems i think it was due to a badly designed bios , and not down to the board its self,a better bios update iirc came about late 2009 to fix all problems that board has had due to the original bios!, and considering the board was made years before a decent bios i think thats were its bad pr came from. well its paid for now, if it dont play nice itll be back on ebay!
 
Soldato
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Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro would be a cheap and decent CPU cooler for socket 775. My dad's PC got one using with a E5200 overclocked to 3.8GHz, and never go above 60C underload.

As for GPU cooler, if you are getting 5770, you could just get either Sapphire Vapor-X version which got a quiet and effective non-reference cooler, or a Asus CuCore one which also got a good effective non-reference cooler...may be not as good as Vapor-X's cooler, but it does offer 1 extra year warranty and voltage tweaking.

But to remind you again, your lack of RAM is the biggest limiting factor at the moment, which need to be sorted out as top priority...
 
Soldato
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Yes really, a few people on these forums have had nightmares with them, along with my mate who couldn't get it stable even at stock, let alone trying to overclock it.

See this thread here, the op got so frustrated that in the end the board had a little accident ;)

P1010056.JPG

take that asus you £$$£$
 
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